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Lawyer of Russians jailed in US says no data on a possible swap for Whelan

Earlier Whelan’s attorney Vladimir Zherebenkov said that the US and Russia were allegedly in talks on possibly swapping the former US marine for one of these Russians

NEW YORK, February 16. /TASS/. The attorney of Russians Konstantin Yaroshenko and Viktor Bout, who are jailed in the US, has not received any data that consultations on swapping them for US citizen Paul Whelan were underway, Alexei Tarasov told TASS.

"I don’t know about any negotiations," Tarasov said, commenting on remarks by Whelan’s attorney Vladimir Zherebenkov in the interview with Reuters that the US and Russia were allegedly in talks on possibly swapping the former US marine for one of these Russians. He named alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko among those who could be exchanged for Whelan.

Tarasov stressed that he would "only welcome such talks."

Former US marine Paul Whelan, who also holds British, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was detained by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on December 28, 2018 in Moscow while on an alleged spy mission. The Moscow City Court found Whelan guilty of spying against Russia and sentenced him to 16 years in prison. Whelan pleaded not guilty dismissing the criminal case as provocation by Russian special services.

In late January, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Moscow would not make unilateral concessions to the US in the issue of swapping inmates. Meanwhile, early in December, the Foreign Ministry drew attention to the conditions of some Russian nationals in US jails. In particular, Konstantin Yaroshenko and Roman Seleznyov do not receive proper medical aid, despite having serious health issues. Another Russian inmate, Viktor Bout is repeatedly being transferred to a special prison unit with harsher conditions without any apparent reasons.

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